Paper conveyer for photographic developing devices



March 1950 E. ZOIJ INGER 2,501,251

PAPER CONVEYER OR PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING DEVICES Filed July 16, 1946 3Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ERNST ZOLLINGEIIZ ATTOKNE).

March 21, 1950 E. ZOLLINGER 2,501,251

7 PAPER CONVEYER FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING DEVICES Filed July 16, 19463 Sheets-Sheet 2 Eramsr ZOLLINGEE.

l1 7 OKNEY INVENTOR. ERNST Z0144 NGER.

Ki A WORN/5k 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ZOLLINGER E. PAPER CONVEYER FORPHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING DEVICES March 21, 1950 Filed July 16, 1946Patented Mar. 21, 1950 PAPER CONVEYER FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPINGDEVICES Ernst Zollinger, Zurich, Switzerland Application July 16, 1946,SerialNo. 683,878

In Switzerlandluly 30, 1945 9 Claims.

Thepresent invention. relates, to a paper conveyor for photographicdeveloping. devices with several adjoining bath troughs such as forinstance described in the. Swiss Patent No. 168,749.

In these devices, of course,v no conveyorcan be used in which the paper.sheets would be held continuously. The conveyor must be a separate onefor each trough asotherwise'the various baths would be soiled; andmixed. by the liquid carried by the conveyor, whereas on the transferfrom one bath to the other liquid adhering to the paper must be removedas far as possible.

In the device according to the patent mentioned above chains passingover sprocket wheels and carrying pins extending perpendicularly to theplane of the paper are provided in each trough. However, the wet andslippery paper sheets are not seized at all by those driver pins if thepins are wrongly adjusted, or the. sheets are damaged by piercing. Thepresent invention overcomes this drawback.

The conveyor according to the invention is as regards its operationindependent of any adjustment in that in'every bath trough, at eitherside of the paper sheet, an elastic cord passing over an upper drivingpulley and a lower reversing pulley and providedwith pivoting drivingmembers is arranged and the driving members exert a clamping action inthe direction of the plane of the paper sheet so that they take thesheet with them and pass it between an upper reversing cylinder and fourcounter cylinders cooperating therewith for the purpose of transferringitinto the next bath trough, and a supporting cylinder for the paper isarranged between the two pulleys at the top and also between the twopulleys at the bottom.

Due to this design the paper sheet is gripped at the edges and carriedforward by the driving members by means of friction so that the drivingmembers which are closely adjoining one another cannot fail to grip thepaper nor can damage to the paper result due to it being. pierced.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in thedrawings, in which Fig. l is a vertical section through a bath troughand the conveyor through the line ll of Fig. 2 and the cylinders thereshown;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the cylinders of the conveyor;

Fig. 3 is a view of a lateral guide plate and Fig. 4 of anintermediateguide plate;

Fig. 5 shows a section through the lateral guide. plate along line V-Vof Fig. 3,

50 of 90 to the first.

i denotes the walls. of the bath trough which together with a number ofcorresponding bath troughs are inserted in arow side by side in a commoncase 20f which only the doublefwall on the driving side is shown. On topof this wall the driving shafts 3 are supported, centrally arranged withrespect to each bath trough. A sprocket wheel 4 is keyed on to eachshaft 3, and all sprocket wheels are driven in the same direction ofrotation by a common plate link chain. At the left hand side of the wall2 the crank arm 5 is keyed on the shaft 3. in the bath trough l nearitsend walls guide plates; 5 are inserted which are .held by threadedtransverse rods 7! and which have the shape shown in Figs. 2 and 3. At.the

5 top and the bottom bushes 8 are inserted in the plates 6., and theshaft. 9 of the. upper bearing cylinder ii and the shaft ill of thelower bearing cylinder 12 rotate in these bushes. Each of the cylindersl l' and i2 hasa rubber coating and is of alength corresponding to thewidth 01" the paper to be developed.

A driving, pulley i3 is fixed on the upper driving cylinder shaft oneach side of the cylinder H. The pulley l3 has a conical surface with agroove 63a of a semi-circular cross section and a collar or marginalportion 31) provided with axial grooves l3" around its circumference.

A reversing pulley M having a circumferential groove it?) with itsbottom inclined inwardly is fixed on the lower cylinder shaft on eachside of the cylinder l2.

Both pairsof pulleys serve for the reception of the driving chain andthe driving members I5 (Figs. 6 and '7'). Each driving member has a bushto which a pin l5'a is laterally attached.

The in has a spherical extension ISbat its lower end and at its upperend an extension 150 inclined at an angle of about 30 on the bush sideand a second extension lid at an angle The driving members lyingalongside one another are joined to form a chain by means of an endlesssteel spiral wire it passing through the bores of their bushes, and theylie as can be seen from Fig. 1 on the circumference of the pulleys l3and I' l. On the upper 3 pulleys l'3 the bushes of the driving membersrest in the grooves 13a and the driving members lie on the collarsupwardly inclined at an angle of about 30 with respect to the axes ofthe cylinders, so that the spherical projections 15b extend laterallybeyond the collars. The extensions I50 of the driving members l5 thenlie in the longitudinal grooves of the collars 13b so that the drivingmembers are rotated by the pulleys. The bushes of the driving members l5lie on the lower pulleys in the grooves Nb, and the driving members areupwardly inclined with respect to the axis of the cylinder at about andthe spherical projections extend beyond the rim of the pulley. Due tothe slope of the bottom of the grooves Mb the driving members endeavourto slide inwards, i. e. towards the inner flange of the pu11eys M, underthe pull of the wire spiral i6 and, accordingly, to clamp betweenthemselves and to carry with them the paper sheet P whose edges arelocated approximately along the bisectrix between the two extensions 150and End, as the sheet held between the bearing cylinder i2 and theintermediate plates 22 can not crumple or fold. As is to be seen fromFigs. 2 and 3 guide rails H of U-shaped cross section are fixed on theinner side of each guide plate 5 by sheet iron strips i8; these guiderails extend below and up to the pulleys l3 and at their lower ends alittle beyond the shaft of the lower cylinder, and they are divergentfrom top to bottom. The spherical extensions ifib slide within theseguide rails, whereby the drivers when leaving the upper pulleys it areforcedly conveyed into the clamping position which they assume on thelower pulleys It so that they jam the paper sheets over the whole lengthof the guide rails and carry them along. In order that the sphericalextension shall be properly engaged, the guide rails ll are bentoutwards at their ends and their flanges widened so that the sphericalextensions i519 passing along the bent parts Ila of the guid railstransfer the driving members into the clamping position in which theyremain for the whole length of the guide rails.

The intermediate guide plates 22 have a central cut away portion servingas a guide for the paper sheet, as can be seen from Fig. 4.

A pulley I to is fixed on the upper cylinder shaft 9 outside the bathtrough, and a link IS in releasable engagement with the crank arm 5 isfixed on the pulley Him. This pulley has also teeth (Fig. l) on itscircumference.

The two outer guide plates 6 have upper extensions 8] (Fig. 2) betweenwhich a bearing frame 24 of Ushape is removably fixed by means of staybolts 23 situated in slots. The shaft 25 of the reversing cylinder 26 issupported by the extensions 51 of the side plates and over it fourcounter cylinders 2'! are supported by the bearing frame 24. The twooutward cylinders are fixed and the two inner cylinders are movableupwards and downwards in radial slots. The drive for the reversingcylinder 26 is effected from the spur wheel Eta (Fig. l) by means of aspur wheel 2! of double the size and having twice as many teeth, as thediameter of the reversing cylinder 26 is twic as great as the diameterof the pitch circle of the driver bush on the pulleys IS. The papersheet P passing between the cylinder 2B and the counter cylinders 21 iscarried forward by friction, squeezed at the same time and passes intothe next bath trough. There it first passes between the verticalextensions 15d whereby a lateral displacement is prevented, and thedriving members l5 passing from the upper pulleys l3 and pivoted whenentering the guide rails I1, clamp the paper sheet due to the fact thatthe distance between the two chains of driving members is smaller thanthe width of the paper when the driving members on the pulleys 13 havbeen swung into the clamping position, and this distance is maintainedby the elastic tension of the spiral spring l6 during the furthermovement.

I do not limit my invention to the structure shown and described asmodifications, within the scope of the appended claims, may be madewithout departing from the spirit of my invention. Having thus describedmy invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. In a continuous treating device for photographic paper of the typehaving a plurality of independent bath troughs disposed side by side inparallelism, a paper drive roller in the upper portion of each troughand a paper travel reversing roller at the bottom of each trough, apulley at each end of each roller and rotating therewith, two elasticcords, each cord forming a loop extending around the pulleys at the sameside of the two rollers of one trough, and paper transport memberspivotally strung on said cords, each of said members having a forked endreceiving a side edge of the paper and exerting pressure on the paper inthe direction of its plane and toward the longitudinal center line ofthe paper.

2. In a device as defined in claim 1, spaced guide plates disposed ineach trough parallel to one another and at a right angle to the axis ofrotation of said rollers, each of said plates having a marginal portionextending along the desired path of travel of the paper.

3. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having asleeve portion, and said elastic cord consisting of a spiraled wireextending through said sleeve portions.

4. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having asleeve portion through which said elastic cord extends, a stem portionconnected tangentially with said sleeve portion and extending at a rightangle thereto, a prong portion extending from said stem portion at anangle of substantially 30, and another prong portion extending from saidstem portion at substantially the same point as said first prong portionand at an angle of substantially 60.

5. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having asleeve portion through which said elastic cord extends, a stem portionconnected tangentially with said sleeve portion and extending at a rightangle thereto, a prong portio extending from said stem portion at anangle of substantially 30, and another prong portion extending from saidstem portion at substantially the same point as said first prong portionand at an angle of substantially 60, the pulleys at the end of the driveroller having a circumferential groove accommodating said sleeveportions and having a marginal portion provided with grooves extendingsubstantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the pulley and adaptedto receive one of said prong portions.

6. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having asleeve portion through which said elastic cord extends, a stem portionconnected tangentially with said sleeve portion and extending at a rightangle thereto, a prong portion extending from said stem portion at anangle of substantially 30, and another prong portion extending from saidstem portion at substantially the same point as said first prong portionand at an angle of substantially 60, the pulleys at the end of thereversing roller having a circumferential groove accommodating saidsleeve portions and rim portions at both sides of said groove, the rimportion nearer the end of the reversing roller being of smallerdiameter, said stem portion of said transport members resting on saidrim portions and forming an angle of substantially 15 with the axis ofrotation of the roller.

7. I a device as defined in claim 1, a shaft for each of said rollersand its adjacent pulleys, support members comprising channel means andbeing inserted in said troughs at the ends of, and supporting saidshafts, said transport members having a sleeve portion through whichsaid elastic cord extends, a stem portion connected tangentially withsaid sleeve portion and extending at substantially a right angle theretoand beyond said sleeve portion and into and being guided by said channelmeans.

8. In a continuous treating device for photographic paper of the typehaving a plurality of independent bath troughs disposed side by side inparallelism, a shaft in the upper portion of each trough, a paper driveroll connected with and driven by said shaft, a shaft at the bottom ofeach trough. carrying a paper travel reversing roller, support membersin each trough supporting the ends of said shafts and having anextension extending upward from one trough and toward the adjacenttrough, a second paper reversing roll supported by said extensions andbeing disposed above and between two adjacent troughs and parallel tosaid drive roller, a spur gear wheel connected with said first shaft,and another spur gear wheel having twice as many teeth as the firstwheel connected with said second reversing roll and driving it at halfthe speed of said drive roll.

9. In a device as defined in claim 8, a bearing frame supported by theextensions of the support members of one trough, two outer rollersrotatably supported by said frame and being disposed parallel to andadjacent said second reversing roller, and two inner rollers disposedsubstantially between said outer rollers and parallel to and adjacentsaid reversing roller and being supported by said frame rotatably andslidably in a direction substantially radial as to the axis of rotationof said second reversing roller.

ERNST ZOLLINGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,472,902 Bulkeley Nov. 6, 19231,641,437 Jones Sept. 6, 1927 1,991,137 Case et a1 Feb. 12, 19352,342,780 Zollinger Feb. 29, 1944

